Patent Protection

A patent protects a new invention – a product, process, machine, composition or method of manufacture – that is novel, involves an inventive step and can be applied industrially. Once granted, it gives you the exclusive right to make, use, sell and import the invention for up to 20 years, so competitors can’t copy it without permission. We help identify what in your invention is genuinely protectable and draft claims that give you the widest defensible protection.

UK patents can protect mechanical devices, electronics, chemical formulations, manufacturing processes, biotech and computer-implemented inventions that make a genuine technical contribution. Some things are excluded: pure business methods, mathematical or scientific discoveries, aesthetic creations and methods of medical treatment. To qualify, the invention must be new, non-obvious to someone skilled in the field, and industrially applicable. We assess whether yours meets the bar before you invest in patent filing.

A UK patent lasts up to 20 years from its filing date, provided you pay annual renewal fees. Patent renewal fees begin in the fifth year and rise each year after that, falling due on the anniversary of your filing date. Miss a deadline and there’s a six-month grace period with a surcharge; miss that and the patent lapses. We manage renewals across your portfolio so protection is never lost by accident.

Watch competitor products, patent filings and marketing, and compare them against your granted claims – patent-watch services and market surveillance make this systematic. Spotting infringement early matters, because delay can weaken your position and let a copyist get established. Our patent protection service includes proactive monitoring and technical claim-mapping so problems surface while they’re still easy to deal with.

Gather evidence first – product specifications, sales data and technical documentation – but avoid public accusations before taking advice, as an unfounded threat can expose you to a counterclaim. We carry out a technical claim-by-claim analysis, assess how strong your case is, and advise on options from a cease-and-desist letter through negotiation to litigation for an injunction and damages.

If infringement is proven, UK courts can grant an injunction to stop it, award damages for your losses or an account of the infringer’s profits, and order infringing goods to be delivered up or destroyed. Sometimes a negotiated settlement or licence delivers a better commercial result than a full court battle. We weigh which remedies fit your goals and pursue the most effective route.

Yes. Our dual-qualified attorneys coordinate enforcement across the UK, EU and US, working with trusted local counsel where a jurisdiction requires it. Running strategy through one firm keeps things joined-up and usually cuts the delay and cost of instructing separate firms in each country. Whether you hold UK, European or US patents, we manage the strategy and the proceedings.

To build an effective long-term patent strategy, we start by identifying your core innovations and ranking them by commercial value and competitive threat, then build a layered portfolio that protects today’s products and tomorrow’s roadmap. That means mapping your technology to filing deadlines, coordinating applications across jurisdictions, managing renewals efficiently, and reviewing the portfolio as you grow. The aim is simple: your patent spend should track real business value, not just accumulate filings.

You risk losing market share and pricing power, and letting competitors copy your innovation without consequence. Delay can also undermine enforcement later – courts may question why you didn’t act sooner. And if renewal fees go unpaid, the patent lapses and protection is gone entirely. Active management keeps your rights strong and your spend focused on the patents that still earn their place.

Patent drafting is a technical craft: the claims decide how much protection you actually get, and weak drafting leaves gaps competitors can exploit – sometimes irreversibly, because you can’t add new matter after filing. A specialist identifies what’s protectable, drafts robust claims and steers the application through examination in each jurisdiction. It’s one of the areas where getting it right first time matters most.

A UK patent involves official UKIPO fees (filing, search and examination) plus professional fees for drafting and prosecuting the application – and drafting is where most of the value sits, because it determines the strength of your protection. Costs then continue as annual renewal fees from year five. Because the figure depends heavily on the complexity of the invention, we give a clear estimate up front. Book a free IP clinic and we’ll talk it through.

A UK patent typically takes several years to grant – often around two to four – because it moves through filing, search, publication at 18 months, and substantive examination. That sounds slow, but your protection dates back to the patent filing date, and ‘patent pending’ status applies throughout. If you need speed, the process can sometimes be accelerated, which we can advise on.

‘Patent pending’ means you’ve filed an application that hasn’t yet been granted. It doesn’t give you enforceable rights on its own, but it’s a public signal that a patent may follow, which can deter copyists, and it secures your all-important filing date. Once the patent is granted, you can enforce it – potentially back to the date the application was published.

Sometimes. Software ‘as such’ is excluded from patenting in the UK, but a software-related invention can be patentable if it delivers a genuine technical effect – for example improving how a device or process works, rather than just automating a business method. It’s a nuanced area, and how the invention is framed makes a real difference. We assess whether yours is likely to qualify, and whether copyright or trade secrets are a better fit. Learn more about this in our expert blog.

For many UK businesses, filing in the UK first is a sensible, cost-effective start: it sets your priority date and buys you 12 months to decide where else to protect the invention, using that priority to file abroad or via the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The right route depends on your markets and budget, and we’ll map it to your commercial plans.